New member, new fish-keeper, my story, questions and future log

This is a discussion on New member, new fish-keeper, my story, questions and future log within the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium forums, part of the Freshwater Fish and Aquariums category; -->
Nearly forgot...
Byron, I have a very good understanding of water chemistry from the amount of information I have read lately on the subject. ...

Byron, I have a very good understanding of water chemistry from the amount of information I have read lately on the subject. Hardness isn't actually as high as one would expect for water with a pH reading of 8, so I suspect that one of the chemicals used in the water preparation has caused it to rise a little, and therefore the pH will indeed drop somewhat. The pet store is sufficiently close to my house to be using the same tap water (this is a risky assumption I know), and their tank water is 7.2

Todays readings...after having fish 24 hours.

pH - ~7.8 (mid colour between the 7.6 and 8) - it is going down slowly. With the driftwood I'm hoping to get it down to a satisfactory 7 to 7.5 before long.
KH - ~8 degrees (mid colour between the 6 and 10)
GH - spot on the 7degrees colour
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0

If there's any way the pet store will take the fish back and give you a refund, I would probably take them all back and choose fish that perfer harder water.

Welcome to TFK, we've all been there before.

They were reluctant to even take the shark back at my cost! And absolutely adamant that I won't have any problems with the rams. They even opened a large hardback freshwater fish reference book, which indeed, bizarrely does not mention the sensitivity of these fish and recommends them for peaceful and semi aggressive tanks with mid pH. Go figure... :/

Rams: This is fine. Remember I said previously that the water parameters should be close to those they were raised in. So if they are tank-raised, which if they are not the wild form they will be, that is important. And warmer temp is mandatory, so fine there. They may well be fine now, if the cooler initial temps hae not taken a toll, and this does sometimes happen.

The pleco is a major poop machine, and it has a heavy effect on the water chemistry and this will increase as it matures. Just so you know. It is also going to limit future fish options.

Water pH. Assuming the tap water KH is around 8 dKH, or 143 ppm, the pH downward shift will not be great but over time will occur as the tank becomes established biologically. Assisting this naturally is the best (and frankly only safe) course. Tannins from wood tend to lower pH very little, tanks with lots of wood sometimes see a drop of .3 or .4 but not much more. However, that is not an issue at least at this time.

I've just identified my piece of driftwood as African Root, it has the classic heavily gnarled underside and smooth topside. It's a very nice piece and as I mentioned, I took it from a shop tank, so it has been in aquarium water for some time already.

I've soaked it in tapwater for several hours to kill off any disease that might have been int he shop aquarium, and now it is drying for the next 24 hours to evaporate the chlorine and chloramide (I'm not sure which is in my water, so I'll let it dry almost fully).

I've just identified my piece of driftwood as African Root, it has the classic heavily gnarled underside and smooth topside. It's a very nice piece and as I mentioned, I took it from a shop tank, so it has been in aquarium water for some time already.

I've soaked it in tapwater for several hours to kill off any disease that might have been int he shop aquarium, and now it is drying for the next 24 hours to evaporate the chlorine and chloramide (I'm not sure which is in my water, so I'll let it dry almost fully).

Should it be safe to introduce after that?

After washing, I would immediately put it in the tank. If it dries, it will float.

If this is Mopani Wood (which is African, it is usually dark on one side and blonde on the other) watch for fungus. This wood sometimes contains a deadly fungus that will kill fish and plants; it comes from within the wood, sometimes over time. There are a couple of other threads on this, with bad experiences from some of us.

I'm British, but I'm living in Greece for many years. Since none of these fish are native, and importing them from so far away (amazon/africa/wherever) seems unlikely, I am going to assume that all the fish I pick up from local stores are aquarium bred, possibly for many generations.